Floating life: contemporary Aboriginal fibre art

23 coloured fibres with the crushed purple petals of a common feral bean plant, and transformed them to green by rubbing in washing powder. Her strong influence on her daughter ensures the continuity of her spirit. Gallerist Gabrielle Pizzi was never one to compromise or tolerate anything less than perfection, her infallible eye and predilection for both the wild and classic are evident in works which surfaced from her personal archival collection. The crazy Tree sculpture 2002 by Lena Yarinkura is one of these. It miraculously survived a perilous journey by sea and road from Maningrida and years in storage to find its place in ‘Floating Life’. When she was making it, Yarinkura thought about a time she was hunting at Kordeme hill in Arnhem Land, and made a monumental manburluddak (stringybark) kordow (tree). On it she had perched precariously mibbarr (white-bellied sea eagle), yok (bandicoot), yulukyuluk (quoll) and durrih (possum). Deterioration in the natural glue led to some inspired work by Gallery conservators, who have installed powerful small magnets to attach the creatures to the tree. Two perfect mewana, elemental basket forms made from sedge grass strands, had also been kept aside by Pizzi. Though from unknown makers, they epitomise the perfection routinely achieved by women twining grasses and leaves in remote locations with thoughts of stories and places. Thin membranes enclosing capacious interiors were never meant to be smeared with fish and animal blood or stained with mud; they were made to delight us, an audience largely unknown to them. The ‘Floating Life’ collection embodies cultural knowledge, woven strand by strand into the objects, and provides valuable opportunities to share the makers’ narratives and personal histories. In her essay ‘The long view, homeland: Sacred visions and the settler state’, Marcia Langton writes: It is not simply material beauty that imbues objects with importance. They are collected and valorised because important meanings are recognised. Such recognition derives from the tenor of the relationship between members of different societies and that arises from their efforts to comprehend what is truly important in each other’s lives. 14 Opposite Lena Djamarrayku Rembarrnga people NT 1943–2005 Worra (Ceremonial basket) (detail) 1997 Twined pandanus palm leaf, cotton, feathers, coiled pandanus palm leaf handle, with natural pigments 48 x 15cm (diam.) (with handle) Acc. 2002.033 Purchased 2002. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation Grant © Lena Djamarrayku 1997. Licensed by Viscopy, Sydney, 2009 Left Artist unidentified Mewana (Sedge grass basket) c.1995 Twined sedge grass, bark fibre string 71.5 x 44cm (diam.) Acc. 2006.099 Right Mewana (Sedge grass basket) c.1995 Twined sedge grass, bark fibre string 58.5 x 60.5cm (diam.) Acc. 2006.100 Purchased 2006. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation